Before the airplane was invented, ballooning was all the rage, and many people thought this was the future of air travel. Cultural historian Richard Holmes describes the remarkable history of the hot air balloon.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Stephen Greenblatt tells Steve Paulson he thinks Shakespeare’s father was a drunk, leaving Will with complex feelings about alcohol.
Thomas Hine is the author of “I Want THAT: How We All Became Shoppers.” He tells Anne Strainchamps how our culture grooms men and women to behave differently as shoppers and exploits the traits of both sexes.
Tom Matthews' first novel, “Like We Care,” tells what happens when some teenagers simply stop spending money on all the stuff that’s marketed to them.
Vikram Chandra writes in English, the language of the colonizer, and faces accusations that he's not really an Indian writer.
Novelist and journalist William Vollmann has written a seven volume study of the moral calculus of violence. Vollmann talks with Steve Paulson about when violence is justified and when it isn’t.
Warren MacDonald lost both of his legs in a climbing accident. But the lure of the back country was so strong that he learned to climb again using prosthetics.
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